Macworld musings

As though we were back in kindergarten, Macworld monitors repeatedly yelled “No running!” at the mostly male, way-too-excited technology journalists as they pushed, shoved and, yes, ran to grab a front-row seat at Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote. Seriously, have we no shame?

After the keynote, one angry attendee stormed into a room full of press to announce that Macworld organizers were being agonizingly slow in handing out passes to go into the show. He screamed something to the effect of, “You should go report that instead of sitting here with your Powerbooks!” He then continued yelling as he stormed down the hall. Then we heard a little ruckus and it was silent. I am not kidding.

The friends of Apple in attendance included Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who sits on Apple’s board, along with Google co-founder Sergey Brin and YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.

Schmidt gave the Apple announcements a thumbs-up before rushing to his next meeting, and Hurley said he hoped the new Apple TV would encourage people to watch trailers via YouTube and then rent a film through iTunes.

In another nod to its attempt to be more earth-friendly — maybe Al Gore’s position on Apple’s board is having an effect? — Apple did not pass out press packets to the media this year. Typically, the company hands out folders stuffed with the show’s press releases, but this year, its staff directed the press to its Web site.